Let's get on it- aka High-larious

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Pondo

Pondo

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Been busy having fun today. My first class 2.

So I originally wanted to build one of these:
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It's a pretty cool chopper that converts to a tall bike. Built out of a cheapo full suspension mountain bike.
 
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I rescued this abandoned Next El Cheapo full sus:
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It turns out the suspension pivot and bottom bracket shell should be reversed for this type of build. Also, this frame and swing arm are aluminum which I can’t weld. Back to the drawing board.
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This was yesterday.
I dragged out most of my junk frames to reevaluate the project. I still wanted to do a tall bike so I needed a steel solution.
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These 2 should get the job done.
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This morning I gathered all my junk, broke out my fab tools and got down to boogie. I’m a novice welder and fabricator on the hobby level so this project is just for fun. First task is to cut the frames up.
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Then some mock up and sort out the design.
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I got some of these stripper wheels off amazon and they are fantastic! Strip paint like crazy and don't damage the metal.
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Time to burn some metal! I don't have a frame jig so I used a piece of angle iron to hold the head tubes straight. It worked quite well. I flipped the front of the Specialized frame to use as the lower head tube and tied the frame tubes into the Schwinn down tube for gussets.
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To weld the rear I fixed the bottom brackets in the same plane using some rectangular tube and angle iron. This also worked out well. I did find that the mild steel Schwinn frame was easy to weld while the chromoly Specialized was a pain.
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Lengthening the seat stays was a challenge. I cut the top of the Specialized seat stays off to move up to the Schwinn seat tube. Then I just added some scrap tubing, trimmed down the rear seat tube and Bob’s your uncle! Not! This section was really challenging to weld. The thin chromoly kept burning thru. But I finally got it all welded and will spend the next few days cleaning up those welds.
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I think it came out great. It even looks pretty straight. There’s a few more gussets to add and I need to lengthen the steer tube on the forks. It took most of the day to knock this together but it was fun.

I’m thinking about naming it either Lulu the High-larious for the Schwinn model name or Brienne of High Tower after a very tall warrior woman in Game of Thrones.

Further build details call for apes, a bananer saddle and 24/26 wheel combo. That's going to do it for this project until next week sometime. :thumbsup:
 
That last photo makes it look like it might, work? :oops: Don't forget to renew your medical coverage. Life insurance might be an idea as well. :bigsmile:
 
OddJob said:
That last photo makes it look like it might, work? :oops:
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Might is the operative term. I'm still scrounging for tubing to extend the forks. I think it needs 18-20" extension on the forks to get the head tube angle into the non-suicidal range. 🤪
OddJob said:
Don't forget to renew your medical coverage. Life insurance might be an idea
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For sure, they don't call me OTB for nothing! Seat height is around 49", I think, 6' at the handlebars. By tall bike standards it's not that tall really.
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